XPS 15 L502x Constant Fan On/Off

Hey guys, I have been recently noticing this issue recently with my xps. After disabling Optimus, it considerably subsided and when the fan turns on, the noise level is not that bad. Sometimes it will run for a couple minutes and other times it will stay on for 15 seconds every 8-10 minutes. Is this normal?

Anyway, the 540M for some reason is an old driver version and I was wondering if I should uninstall and install the 270.61 version while keeping the intel drivers or uninstall/reinstall both drivers?

Thanks!

 

How can you disable Optimus? I didn't think it was even possible.

 

Sorry what I meant to say was I used integrated graphics as preferred processor.

 

Hey guys,

So basically I have to change the settings from the nvidia control panel to use the intel integrated card? or I have to assign the integrated card to each program individually? is that even possible?

Thanks

 

You can get a GPU monitoring program to see if nVidia even kicks in... if you're just web browsing and using word processing it should stick to the onboard intel chip.

If your nvidia card isn't even kicking in, changes preferences isn't going to do anything.

But to set individual programs, I believe it's in the 3D settings window in the nvidia control panel. The onboard intel chip should sufficiently handle everything aside from gaming, Photoshop (would probably still be ok), AutoCAD or any other 3D design software. The intel chip will even play HD videos like a champ, so no need to have nvidia for that.

One thing I'm not sure you can get around is using the nvidia card for HDMI output...

 

I am only changing the options because each time I open a web browser, the fan kicks in.. Dell was supposed to come and change the fan and heatink today but they said Monday.. seems like the old driver is keeping the fan quite! but I was wondering is there a way to dedicate a graphic card to a specific program?

 

Yes...

"I believe it's in the 3D settings window in the nvidia control panel."

 

oh yea! it is there lol mm now my laptop runs fine! no crazy fan issues! imagine Dell couldn't fix it and they sent a tech to replace this and that.. I don't know if I should let them replace the FAN and do repasting job? maybe they will do a better one! or maybe not lol.. they also sent me a new wireless card but I also fixed the issue...

 

Well... does your fan sound fine? If so, I wouldn't replace it.

Same with a repaste. I'd only do that if I was unhappy with the temperatures I was seeing.

If you're happy with it now, why get someone to open it up and replace things? It stands to reason that if it's fine now, it might not be after....

 

When it goes on on full rpm it is loud, I also notice that the laptop gets very warm ( not hot) from the bottom left side where the vents are and the wireless card is, specifically the bottom vent, I know it is not the hard disk since I have an SSD, my touchpad gets warm too but I don't know if this is normal, does your touchpad and the bottom vent gets warm?

 

I removed the latest Nvidia drivers and replaced it with a previous version 270.61 and the fan cycling is reduced. Now it's on mostly all the time on low speed. I just got the laptop yesterday and it's exactly like it was when I first used the machine. It was only when I upgraded to the latest Nvidia drivers did the fan problem started to manifest.

 

I have done some more research in to this. What seems to be happening is the temps of the cpu go very high, very quickly for short bursts. Firefox is not too bad with cpu spikes, so the fan does not kick in so much. Chrome however has used up to 54% (!!) when initially loading a web page. Now for most laptops, this is a non issue as the bios is set to only kicked in the fan when it hits a high temp for a certain period of time and gradually as well. The XPS ( from monitoring with Coretemp ) only needs to hit about 61C + for at least a second ( not much I know! ) Once it hits this, it trips the fan to go full throttle. I have also noticed the fan getting stuck @ full throttle for no reason, and only way to kick it off is to flip the power settings between profiles and it slows down. Either that or close and reopen the web browser.

So really, while I believe optimus has a lot to do with the overall heat. The bios commands for the fan are just way too over sensitive. There is no in between it seems, just nothing then full blast. This is of course annoying.

I think what we need to do is something similar to the old XPS 1645 throttling issue. Make lots of noise and get Dell interested. The difference this time, is that is a simple adjustment of the fan profiles and trigger settings in the bios, rather than hardware. The fan should only come on at a higher speed if the cpu temp is hitting 61C+ for say 30 seconds. This should prevent the ramping when opening web pages etc, or outlook ( yeah, now that is annoying, opening outlook causes the fan to ramp to 100% which is crazy! )

So I propose that I make a new thread, this time with all the findings including my temporary solution. I will then need users to do some test for me, so I can post them. We should be able to get a proper idea of what temperature is triggering the the fan to kick in, for how long etc. We need something that has a more smoother curve for fan speeds. So for example 30% = up to 60C - 50% up to 65 and so on and so forth. There also needs to be some kind of delay set in, so we don't get a sudden speed increase for just a short term temp fluctuation.

If you guys are willing, then when I get some time over the next few nights ( I live in the UK )I will set up a thread. Then maybe we can get some Dell techs to seriously start looking at this, and maybe even exposure to some big websites.

What ya think?

 

Hey folks. This may be a mere coincidence, but after I recently uninstalled McAfee (and replaced with Norton Internet Security) I have noticed the fan comes on a lot less, at least while surfing the net.

 

Count me in! Thanks for taking the time to investigate. Your situation sounds exactly like mine.

 

I dont have the problem (yet) but I'm in too!

 

Ok, i have the problem when I'm in Balance, but not when I'm in Battery Saver mode. Although when I'm on Battery Saver the comp is slightly, but noticeably slower. The fan seems to rep up for a couple seconds then stops on Balance mode when opening programs or new websites.

 

I've used Core Temp like Risco suggested, and its quite true - the fan is on a hair trigger when any core temp gets over 60C for a second. The fan tends to ramp back down quickly once things cool off. I can see why Optimus might be viewed as the culprit - it directs some graphic processing to the main CPU which can spike temperatures.

The fix/kludge i've found is to throttle the processor using advanced power options. Limiting the CPU to 30% or so keeps core temps from getting over 60 except under very heavy load. Of course that's not a serious option - why bother with the i7 in the first place then? But it confirms for me that Risco's assessment is very good.

 

Is it difficult for Dell to modify the bios to change the fan behaviour?

I really like this computer, just the fan annoys me when it stays on after hitting 60 for minutes longer than it needs to!

 

Guys please, follow these instructions and you'll be ok.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...-15-l502x-constant-fan-off-4.html#post7439134

 

does anyone else get a slight but noticeable slowdown from setting to power saver mode?

 

Risco,

I'm all for your idea. Perhaps with enough people and some hard technical data, DELL will finally make a move. When I called Dell to report this issue prior to sending my laptop to their repair depots, the rep said "I have never heard of this issue before", and assured me that if enough reports were made, the problem would be escalated to higher management.

I'm almost certain if I called now and reported the issue, they'd tell me the same thing. Either the managers at Dell don't have a clue that this is a problem, or they don't think it's important enough to allocate resources towards the fix.

 

I did make a thread, please post here with your results http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...owners-fan-issues-post-here-get-dell-fix.html

 

Hi - first post here. Great thread. I've had my XPS17 for about 2 weeks and the fan surges every 5-10 seconds only began a few days ago. Prior to this, this machine was so quiet I had to ask my son to be sure it was working properly.

Anyway, could someone please advise me how to disable/unistall GPU monitoring? I figured I'd give that a try since some here seem to have benefited from it. Thanks!

Kyle

 

Hey, I've joined this forum because of this issue and essentially I followed the steps that everyone was mentioning to get the fan start/stop to finally quit.

I had the same issue of where the fan would start up when I opened a new web page...or silently needed to do word processing in the library!

I left the nVIDIA 3d setting to auto (let it do its thing for integrated graphics or what not)
I uninstalled the boost monitor.

then i read this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/617910-xps-fan-issue-solved.html

Last thing I did was make my own Custom power plan. I left it as similar to " "balanced" as could be....only thing I changed was to go into "change advanced power settings"...clicked on "processor power management" and changed the maximum processor state to 70 for both battery and plugged in.

That was it! It seems to automatically kill the fan spinning. Try it, make the custom plan...have even a youtube video playing and the fan will be on with any of the preset power plans...then click over to your custom plan and the fan will quit spinning...

so in effect you have to monitor your own usage and turn off your custom plan if you intend on using your cpu more intensely.

let me know if this works for you

thanks
cpumonkey

 

So you have hobbled your CPU to never using more than 70% of its power, just to reduce fan noise.

 

when i only need 70% of it...such as doing word processing or web surfing...then yes. I never said it was perfect, but as a workaround...it is silent.

EDIT: as a follow up, I have noticed that the fan comes on much less frequently..it unfortunately still comes on. However I have noticed that if I switch from my custom plan to any other, the fan noise is immediately killed, then i can switch back to my custom and it will stay that way... for a while anyhow
not too sure what to do about this

 

Hello everyone,

I just bought an XPS L502x and i had the same problem as you did. I read most of this thread and tried some stuff, so here it is.

First of all, it is possible that this problem started out after i updated the nvidia drivers but i'm not so sure on that one. Now i have version 295.73

I tried i8kfan but it wouldn't install on windows 7 because the drivers aren't digitally signed and i'm not going to try that option yet.

I tried using SpeedFan's (4.46 beta 7) dell option with automatic fan speeds between 50-100%. the fan worked continuously for about 5mins and didnt bother me that much cause it wasn't so loud, but after a while it started to act pretty weird and trying to set other values for the fan speed made it unstable.

Then, i've tried using the power plan settings as previosuly described, setting Power Saver to High performance. In 10-15 minutes the cooler started 2 times for about 10-15 seconds. But after 15 minutes it started to work in bursts... on/off/on/off. So that didn't quite work either.

Now I use the same power plan, only that i keep the maximum processor state at 99%. Now it stays quieter for longer periods and the cooler starts only from time to time for 10-15 seconds. Another thing that i've noticed with this power plan is that chrome is a bit laggy when scrolling down longer posts ( i.e. on facebook).

If this problem persists I'm gonna try all posibilities. Next up:
- downgrading nvidia drivers to those available on the official website
- installing nvidia 270
- try different speedfan configurations
- i8kfan

If you have any other suggestions, let me know cause i'll try anything. Its a cool laptop and i really hate this problem. It also makes me regret buying it

 

The fan problem only occurs for me when there is an internal temperature monitoring program (e.g. CoreTemp) running. The problem goes away when the program is closed. I stopped using a temperature monitoring program and I have not had any further problems with the fan turning on and off.

 

I have noticed that there is an update that Windows Update lists which if you apply then it makes the fan issues worse. The update is Realtek - Network - Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (update released in June, 2011). It is listed as optional Update so whatever you do don't install it.

If you have already done the update then if you go to that driver and do a rollback then you will notice the fan behaving a lot better. Only use the driver that is listed on the Dell website.
Hope this helps - although the fan is still annoying sometimes.

 

Heya,

Possible solution. It isn't perfect but i've been using it for 1 day and my overall experience almost meets my expectations.

The solution that worked for me was to change maximum processor state to 80% ( started out at 70%) - i'm using the balanced power plan. It seems to work like a normal cooler without the on/off problems. I will try to tune it up until the problem starts again. Modifying the power plans (such as tuning power saver to act as high performance ) was the most effective way to influence the cooler behavior.

I've tried almost every trick posted here except for i8kfangui which doesn't even start. I've tried speedfan with dell support, installing reinstalling disabling stuff. Nothing worked except for the power plans. I've got the latests drivers installed of everyting.

So, my advice is to try different settings in the power plans. Obviously it also depends on your workload. For example, I usually have 10 chrome tabs, itunes, messenger, steam, outlook, onenote, avg antivirus, and google calendar opened. When it's like this i have about 50-60 degrees celsius in the processor, the laptop is a bit warm, but the cooler only starts from time to time. I could set the maximum processor state to lets say 30%, and run it cool and silent, but it would seriously slow me down and this is not why i bought an XPS.

About different monitoring tools. I've noticed that the fan speed is somewhat affected by turning on monitoring software... problably its because its accessing different sensors, but usually the fan activity returns to normal.

From my observations, the on/off problem seems appear because of processor usage. As soon as the processor hits certain values it turns on, and if this is only a spike ( temporary ) the cooler turns down. I think that cooler activity is determined by both temperatures and workload ( i had a similar problem with an hp pavilion which turned up with processor load regardless of temperature). The test that made this obvious was opening new tabs in chrome. A soon as i accessed some rich website or youtube i'd have the problem.

 

Bios A10 is out, and after testing it REALLY seems to fix the fan issue!

Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States]

 

Says file not found!

 

Yeah I've also installed the update. Works for me too. It isn't perfect cause its starting out on full throttle and then turns down to about 50%, but still... better than full throttle and stop.

 

Hey guys, I installed the latest BIOS, and it didn't fix the issue for me, but the following did. (The issue seems to be on Windows OS only, on Ubuntu it works as expected).

The Fix:

I recently bought a dell XPS L502x, I also had the same problem with the fan speeding up to full speed for a few seconds, then off again, then on again, then off again. I am using windows 7 home premium. This is only a issue on Windows, Ubuntu seems to work without any problems. The latest BIOS update released on 21/3/2012, did not fix the issue for me. But the following below did...

I have figured out a simple fix, seems to have worked so far and my fan just stays on at a slower constant speed. My CPU temps have stayed constant and within range.

1. Click the ` charging` icon in your taskbar (By the clock) [The little power plug or battery]

2. Click on ` more power options`

3. Under the power setting you are using (Balanced in my case), click on ` Change plan settings`.

4. On the change plan settings screen, click ` Change advanced power settings`

5. Scroll down to ` Processor Power Management` > ` System Cooling Policy` (Expand them both to view the options).

6. Under `System Cooling Policy` > Change `On Battery` & `Plugged In` to `Passive`.

and... Tada!.... The settings should take effect immediately, if they don't, a reboot should do it.

That's It! The constant fan ramping up and down will be fixed, and will just stay at a constant speed now!!

 

try with this alternate link (dell's ftp site)

http://ftp.dell.com/FOLDER00318273M/1/L502XA10.exe

 

Bios A10 don't work fixing the fan issue... Keep waiting a REAL solution...

 

Since none of the fixes mentioned in this topic completely works for me, do you think a 3rd party fan control program would help? Something like:

Dell Inspiron Inspiron/Latitude/Precision fan control

It says it probably voids your warranty but.

Disabling the nVidia card for virtually everything helps a bit (not entirely) but I kinda wonder what's a point of having this class of laptop if you disable the non-integrated card...

 

As far as I know the Vostro 1500 generation(2008) was the last to work with I8kfangui. Anyway it is a really nice program for fan control. It works perfectly fine with my V1500.

I really miss such a program for the XPS15.

 

Hi guys, I think after about a week of dealing with it, I have figured out the problem. It's the driver for the intel hd3000 gpu.

The latest default driver was causing me problems, so I reverted the driver to v8.15.10.2622 [download links - 32bit: http://adf.ly/5xreZ ; 64bit: http://adf.ly/5xrh9] and now everything is working perfectly.

Hopefully this helps someone. Cheers. [I'm using the A10 BIOS]

 

Hmmmm. 64bit HD 3000 Driver you link won't install. "Not authorized for this computer. Contact your computer manufacturer".

 

Uninstall the Dell and nVidia drivers, the install.

 

I am using the Windows 7 - 64 default driver v8.15.10.2556. The fan is driving me crazy. It's on and off every 2 seconds. I had this issue when I first got this laptop. Then I installed my own Windows 7 and it went away. Maybe it's the HD 3000 v8.15.102556 drivers that are bad. I'm going to install v15.22.50.64.2509.

 

**FOUND THE FIX**

Did the following with no help:
- disassembled and blew out dust
- changed nvidia drivers
- installed igpu drivers
- clean installation of windows + drivers
- changing power settings (cooling policy to passive)
- changing cpu % to 99
- power saving, balanced, high performance all do the same

Fix that made this problem go away instantly:
- UNINSTALL ALL GPU TEMPERATURE MONITORS
(Turning on MSI afterburner made fan go ON and OFF and ON and OFF. GPU-Z did the same.. Closed both, fan is SILENT.)

 

I just wished I had read this thread (and similar ones) before I bought my own XPS15. The fan noise is just unbearable.

Although many users have claimed to found "the" solution, the truth is that nothing really works, at least for me. I can also see that some of those who found solutions later come back to say that in fact the problem is still there, the solution was temporary. So the problem has not been solved.

The scarce information about "controlling fan noise" in Dell website is useless. It seems they haven't acknowledged that there is a fan noise problem in all XPS laptops. However, there are plenty of people complaining in many laptop forums, about XPS 13,15 and 17. It seems there is also an issue with Dell Inspiron models.

I am going to contact DELL tomorrow about this, but I just want to inform all of you *and especially you who are thinking of buying a DELL XPS* that I have tried all of the options below and had no success. I also lost the whole weekend investigating the problem online and trying all solutions.

So I would advise potential buyers to stay away from DELL XPS, to avoid headaches. Some of the solutions below may work in some cases, but from what I collected from reading hundreds of forum postings and from my experience, chances are that none of them work.

Solutions that do not work:

- clean installation of windows + windows updates + drivers
- update windows and update all drivers, from Dell website, including NVIDIA drivers
- latest BIOS
- set energy plan to power saver, with cooling policy to passive, and maximum cpu to 99%, then 70%, 50%, 20%, 10%... Nothing works. Fan is still there.
- Set 3D settings in NVIDIA control panel to "integrated graphics" and disable 3D Vision in the Start Menu
- disable hardware acceleration in Firefox
- install the program "speed fan" (horrible! instead of fixing the problem, it made it even worse, the fan kicking on every 10 seconds)

I have no gadgets monitoring fan speed or cpu temperature, so the problem does not come from there either.

I also tried a cooler pad, but that is not really a serious solution. A cooler pad is basically a fan, and a fan makes noise, so instead of one fan making noise, I got two.

Finally, I live in a cold climate and my room has proper ventilation. I never had any problems with noisy laptop fans before. I use the laptop on a hard desk.

So even after trying all the possible solutions I could find on the internet, the fan is still there. Sometimes it's just a buzzing, continuous, noise, other times, it's a loud noise. This only with Firefox and Windows Media Player open.

Remaining options:
- Ask for a laptop replacement from DELL
- Return the laptop and get a refund, as I'm still within 14 days of receiving the noisy laptop. The problem is that there are not many good alternatives in the market for a laptop as good as XPS15. It's really a pity, this fan noise problem.

Anyway, if everybody complains to dell maybe they will do something about this eventually.

 

Hi,

I'm currently having the same problem with my Dell XPS L702X but it only happens when I'm playing a game. And it started to happen after I installed the Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2718704) update. I don't really mind the noise, but I was wondering if this sort of fan behavior can damage my laptop .

Thanks.

 

Update on the XPS15 irritating fan noise:
I contacted Dell and a technician came to change the fan and the heat sink. Now the noise is slightly less irritating on the ears, but the fact is that there is still noise all the time. This is not normal at all as I have never seen something like this in any other laptop. Basically, changing the fan does not solve the problem. The fan is still on about 95% of the time. There is something wrong with the XPS15 model. I will ask them for a replacement. If the new one still makes noise, I will ask for another one, and so on and so on. I am determined to cause them as much financial damage as I can, maybe like this they will try to find a solution for these noise laptops, or at least they will acknowledge the problem, as they keep saying "that's odd, we haven't had anyone complaining about this"

 

An update. I received a replacement laptop. It's also noisy. Fan blasting all the time. I give up. I will try to return this hair dryer to DELL. If they don't accept, then I will call technical support every week until they come up with a solution. OR maybe I will just have to bear this noise for the next 4 or 5 years, until I buy a new laptop, WHICH IS NOT GOING TO BE DELL. In the meanwhile, I cannot use my new laptop in libraries or other silent places, or when somebody is sleeping, etc etc. A huge disappointment. I urge prospective buyers to avoid DELL XPS at all costs. Unless noise is not a problem for you, you will regret it. This noisy cause headaches. And if you think it's just me, then google "XPS" + noise and you will see that the problem is general. And don't even bother with trying the solutions proposed in this forum or by DELL. They do not work. XPS 15 is a noisy laptop, that's all.

 

is this the case with the 702x as well?

 

Sorry for my english, I bougth xps15 and have de same problem... the fan noise.
I update the bios and the problem was resolved. Few days ago DELL made an update to the Bios (L502XA11) and I installed but the problem back again, so, I decided to return to the old bios (L502xa10). Dell has available both bios, but now is only in the page the last one.

I upload the BIOS L502XA10 to mediafire, try if this can to help you.


L502XA10.exe

 

Thank You from the bottom of my Heart. You saved me many headaches.
Thanks for uploading the exe file to mediafire

My system is 1 year old and i started having the problem recently only. It is cured by your method :thumbsup: